Newman University will play host to a special Wichita diocesan-wide celebration June 9 marking the closing to the “Year of Father Kapaun” and the 76th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Kapaun.
The event will begin with Mass at 6 p.m. June 9 in St. John’s Chapel, the location of Fr. Emil Kapaun’s ordination June 9, 1940. A dinner and reception in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center follows at 7:15 p.m. Registration is required.
On June 1, 2015, the Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme, Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita, declared a “Year of Father Kapaun.” It began June 7, 2015 and concludes with the closing Mass and dinner June 9. Fr. Kapaun was a priest of the Wichita Diocese who died in 1951 in a North Korea prisoner of war camp, and is now being considered for beatification by the Vatican.
In addition to the closing ceremony, 2016 spring and summer events marking the Year of Father Kapaun included a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Fr. Kapaun’s birth at Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School on April 20, a Mass at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the 65th anniversary of Fr. Kapaun’s death on May 23, and the annual Chaplain Kapaun Pilgrimage, a 60-mile walk from Wichita to Pilsen, Kan., commemorating Fr. Kapaun’s forced march to prison camp, June 2-5.
Learn more about Fr. Kapaun, including his connection with Newman University, receiving the Medal of Honor and a tribute video.
